A twice-weekly syndicated newspaper column on California public affairs.

Monday, April 9, 2018

‘RESISTANCE’ DOOMED? SECESSION MOVE COULD RESULT

CALIFORNIA FOCUS
FOR RELEASE: TUESDAY, APRIL 24, 2018 OR THEREAFTER

=

BY THOMAS D. ELIAS

“‘RESISTANCE’ DOOMED? SECESSION MOVE COULD RESULT”

Since
the Civil War, no state has resisted the policies of a single President more
than California today as it fights to fend off many measures President Trump
and his cabinet have ordered.

From
smog control to sales of federal lands, immigration policy to oil drilling,
health care, census questions and much more, California is doing all it can to
avoid going along with Trump, the second President of the last three to have
been elected with a minority popular vote and only the fourth ever to reach office
in that dicey manner.

As
of mid-April, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra had filed 32 lawsuits
trying to stave off major policy changes by Trump. Then came the announcements
of a coming federal attempt to take away California’s unique authority for
setting air pollution standards and a move toward selling government-owned land
in the state’s deserts and mountains.

Becerra
announced immediately he’s ready to file still more lawsuits over those issues.

But
it’s far from certain the Trump agenda can be drowned by a flood of legal
briefs. That’s because the Constitution’s supremacy clause gives priority to
national laws and regulations over state ones when they conflict.

Legally,
resistance to a Trump attempt at removing California’s anti-smog powers appears
the one case with the best chance of ultimate success, because federal
Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt would have to prove
California applied for its authority on flawed grounds. This requirement is
part of the 1970s-era Clean Air Act signed by then-President Richard Nixon.
California has no other powers different from other states.

This
makes it seem that the real hope behind many Becerra lawsuits is to delay
matters until voters can oust Trump in 2020 – if they do. Should these cases
reach the Republican-dominated U.S. Supreme Court earlier than that (or if
Trump is reelected), the resistance movement might hit a wall.

That’s
when the almost-forgotten secession movement known as Calexit might suddenly
revive. Sentiment to split from the Union ran as high as 32 percent in polls
taken soon after Trump assumed office last year. If the high court should trash
cherished state policies that embody what U.S. Senate candidate Kevin de Leon
calls “California values,” sentiment could grow stronger than that.

If
this feeling develops, voters might be able to express it at the polls this
fall. For the pro-secession “Yes California” group, which claims 44,000
members, will start circulating initiative petitions late this month for a
measure called “The California Self Determination Act.” It demands a popular
referendum on May 4, 2021 asking voters if they want the state to become
independent. If a majority then say yes, the Legislature would have to issue a
declaration of independence within one week.

“After
Trump was selected,” says Yes California president Marcus Ruiz Evans of Fresno,
“there were two reactions. One was Calexit and the other was resistance. The
resistance…has more attention than Calexit now. But the movement feels that’s
going to shift dramatically within the next three months.”

Ruiz
claims the resistance movement is “based on the idea that protest can compel
politicians to stop…Trump through lawsuits.” None of those suits has yet
reached the Supreme Court, he notes, predicting that when they do, things will
change. “What happens when the court…shoots down all the California lawsuits?
It will be laid bare to the public that California politicians…can’t protect
their people as long as they’re part of America and have to abide by federal
law.”

Ruiz
thinks that could happen this spring, even as secession initiative petitions
are circulating. But odds are it will take longer than that for most of
Becerra’s lawsuits to reach the nation’s top court.

Meanwhile,
Calexit backers are unlikely to be dissuaded if they fall short of the
signatures needed to put their preliminary measure to a November vote. They’d
be sure to come back with another effort, perhaps moving the date of their
desired secession referendum back a year or two.

But
Ruiz may be correct in seeing potential here for a significant secession
movement so long as Californians feel strong antipathy for Trump and the
supremacy clause he’s trying to use to roll back many years of California environmental
and social policy.

-30-

Email
Thomas Elias at tdelias@aol.com. His book, "The Burzynski Breakthrough,
The Most Promising Cancer Treatment and the Government’s Campaign to Squelch
It," is now available in a soft cover fourth edition. For more Elias
columns, visit www.californiafocus.net

No comments:

Post a Comment

About Me

Thomas Elias writes the syndicated California Focus column, appearing twice weekly in 88 newspapers around California, with circulation over 2.2 million.
He has won numerous awards from organizations like the National Headliners Club, the California Newspaper Publishers Association, the Los Angeles Press Club, and the California Taxpayers Association. He has been nominated three times for the Pulitzer Prize in distinguished commentary.
Elias is the author of two books, "The Burzynski Breakthrough: The Most Promising Cancer Treatment and the Government's Campaign to Squelch It" (now in its third edition; also published in Japanese and recently optioned for a television movie) and "The Simpson Trial in Black and White," co-authored with the late Dennis Schatzman.